City Hunter (2024) [Film Review]

City Hunter; or, Mr Private Eye
     I’ll take you on your case. Let’s go avenge your brother.
I’m back with new, belated update. This time, I take a look at another 2024 April release. To be specific, I really wanted to check out a Netflix live-action adaptation of the popular City Hunter franchise.

Release Info

Directed by: Yuichi Sato Starring: Ryohei Suzuki, Misato Morita, Asuka Hanamura, Fumino Kimura

Language: Japanese Original Title: シティーハンター Runtime: 102 min

Synopsis
Tokyo, 2024. Private detective Ryo Saeba (Ryohei Suzuki) is an excellent marksman, and also a pervert when it comes to relations with women. He is working on a case of a missing girl together with his friend Hideyuki Makimura (Masanobu Ando), who is an ex-cop. After the murder of Makimura, Saeba joins forces with his partner's sister, Kaori (Misato Morita) to discover the mystery behind a deadly drug known as Angel Dust.

Midnight Lighting
To be honest, my knowledge of City Hunter is limited only to the 1993 Hong Kong adaptation with Jackie Chan in the leading role, so please don’t hit me. I have no idea how it’s possible, but the City Hunter craze never caught me. I’m familiar with the premise of the show, but I don’t even think that the original anime and OVAs from Sunrise were broadcast in my country. The Korean and French adaptations from 2011 and 2019 respectively are also beyond me. As a result, I approach the 2024 film with the non-fan mindset.

The Netflix production directed by Yuichi Sato certainly caught my attention due to its stylish production design and over-the-top action set pieces. It is clear that this movie was made by the fans for the fans, so even though I am missing out on some vital easter eggs and plotlines from the manga, I still appreciate the fast pacing and interesting storyline.

Although the movie is set in present day, you can clearly feel the vibe of the 1980s. What is more, I love the neon lighting of many scenes and great attention to detail (city skyline is oftentimes prevalent throughout the movie). In addition, the end credits are a real design treat.

In my opinion, Ryohei Suzuki totally rocks as Ryo Saeba. I really like his overconfident on-screen behaviour, so it’s much easier for me to buy his interpretation of the character than Jackie Chan’s. However, the NSFW jokes crop up a bit too often, in my opinion. Because of these, at times, I had a feeling that I was watching yet another Naked Gun movie.

Additional praise goes to Misato Morita as Saeba’s sidekick, Kaori Makimura. Personally, I think she steals a lot of the scenes, especially the ones that involve drama and moments of vulnerability between the characters. I think that Morita had better material to work on than in the case of The Naked Director, and I certainly look forward to seeing her in more movies and dramas. That being said, Takaya Sakoda really scared me as the main villain. Indeed, he gave a menacing performance and at first, I thought I was looking at deaged Ken Mitsuishi from Ouroboros drama. There is certainly a similarity in the crazed look of both actors. I also liked seeing Asuka Hanamura and Fumino Kimura in supporting roles.

Recommendations
To sum up, I greatly enjoyed City Hunter from Netflix and I’m definitely open for a potential sequel. In the meantime, the movie encouraged me to check out the Sunrise anime, but I still have no desire to watch Korean and French productions.Overall score: 7/10

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